iPad Air 4 Battery Drain

Same thing. I got the ipad air 2020 last week and after 3 days it drained overnight (slept with around 60%). Then it would constantly heat up even when idle. I would put it on airplane mode and it would still die overnight! Im running on the latest OS and its still an issue.

Had the same issue with 2020 Air. The battery was draining abnormally fast. I had to charge my device 3-4 times a day with my normal 11-13 hr a day usage. Which was crazy because my previous 5 year old iPad Pro 9.7 was able to hold the charge for same period with same usage. Chatted with Support, they led me through OS update, Settings reset and all that stuff. Nothing helped, and then I brought it to the store and it was exchanged for the new one which seems to be way better. First image is from old one and 2nd is from new one.

Me too! The battery was draining very fast without any usage! Diagnostic test from Apple Support showed problem with compass sensor, peripheral lighting and barometer. Also the automatic screen brightness did not work and I thought that this model does not have this setting... My new iPad Air 4 it seems to work perfectly! Although at first I thought it was software issue, it turned out to be hardware. A photo of the new iPad’s battery...

Apple support does not want to trust me that it is a hardware failure.

i can use the iPad for 8 to 12 hours without Problem by Netflix and co. But in standby the Power rans off from 100 to 0 in less than 10 hours.

how did you got a replacement? I am about to throw it away and quit apple forever.

I have the exact same problem. My chart looks like I used it for 9 hours but I was technically with the screen on for less than an hour. I have been trying for 4 days now with the above suggestions and they all don’t work. I’m trying to get a replacement but the store where I got it said I can’t return and have to bring it to Apple Services. But they are closed since we are in lockdown. I’m getting so tired of this now.

Also experiencing same problem as everyone on this thread. I bought the standard ipad for my son few weeks before i got my ipad air. The standard ipad drains less than 1% / 24hrs in standby with background activities, bluetooth and wifi enabled. Air drains several % / 24hrs. I would estimate i get 4-5 hrs web browsing on the air from a full charge. Standard ipad probably the promised 10 hrs. Compared video streaming and air consumed ~20% more battery. 🙁

I notice the same thing.. everything off (screen, wifi, blue tooth, etc) overnight yet I still lose 3-5% overnight for no reason. Brand new iPad 4 Air. Very odd. Anyway to report this to Apple as something isn’t right.

I actually just chatted with Apple Support and described the battery issue that we are seeing with our new iPad 4 Air units. Apple did a diagnostic via the Settings app and the guy said there is no issue yet can’t explain why we are losing battery level (sometimes 3-5%) overnight when our units are fully powered off. I also let him know that quite a few people in the Apple support community are reporting the same problem. No idea how to get this problem reported up the support chain to get it fixed by Apple. Has anyone taken their unit to an Apple store to see what they say?

Update to my post on Nov. 25th: Genius Bar did an exchanged with a new iPad Air 4. Right out of the box I noticed similar issue. This time it drained 1% within 3 mins., without operating it. Got on the phone with a senior tech support advisor. This is what he said, “The iPad Air should go from 100% to 0% with approximately 9hrs of normal use.” Will test again accordingly.

@ n3ntjmatt You are correct. Also interesting, is to overcharge the battery, which is bad. According to Wired, “batteries are under the most strain when they're fully charged or completely empty. The real sweet spot for a battery is 50 per cent charge as that means that half of its moveable lithium ions are in the lithium cobalt oxide layer and the other half are in the graphite layer. This equilibrium puts the least amount of strain on the battery, and extends the number of charge cycles it can withstand before degrading.” Here is the article: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/how-to-improve-battery-life-tips-myths-smartphones

Hi all, another iPad Air 4 user and I noticed since day one that my iPad Air 4 battery life is poor, it’s less than my previous Air 3, even though screen time shows a good amount of screen on time, I have seen even 9hrs 34 mins and I see on regular basis over 7 hrs. I do charge overnight and I use a older 10w charger left over iPad 6th generation but I also use it’s original 20w charger too, no matter which one I use the results are the same, shorter battery life than expected while using it, don’t know about standby as I never noticed anything abnormal. Today I used the iPad for about 2 hrs in the morning, browsing the net, battery went down from 100% to 76%, I left it for another 2 hrs and battery was 73% then I started using it again and battery went quickly down to 63% and the iPad had an excessive heat on the one corner of the screen, the battery it’s exactly under this place and seems was not happy for some reason. I have all correct settings done for best battery life and it’s the first time I experience this strange event since 3 weeks of ownership. I will keep an eye on it and will report if anything interesting happens that might be of any help to you.

Update - I lost 3% battery overnight with my iPad 4 Air turned off. It was at 46% this morning when I turned it on (it was at 49% last night when I turned if off). I used it intermittently while working this morning and, over a course of 3 hours, it is now down to 4%. When I use it onsite for work, I use it for maybe 20 seconds at a time maybe every 5~10 minutes. I have my screen brightness set to automatic and it's most often in the 50% range. There's no valid explanation or excuse for the battery levels dropping this much with so little use.. other than a battery or OS issue. I got much better battery life with my iPad 3 Air that I traded in to get the 4 Air... guess trading in the 3 for the 4 was a mistake as there is definitely a battery problem that Apple won't acknowledge.

I am curious how many of you have contacted Apple Support (https://support.apple.com/) about your iPad 4 Air battery problems? Maybe we need every one of you, who haven't already, to contact Apple Support to let them know.. maybe they'll finally figure out a problem really exists the more support requests they get over the same issue.

I contacted Apple Support again today and have an appt. at the Apple Store on Friday (that's the earliest they had).. hopefully I'll get my new iPad 4 Air replaced and the new one won't have the problem.. fingers crossed.

Personally, I have not noticed any excessive heat with my new iPad 4 Air. I use my iPad in portrait mode, generally.. not that that would change things much. Heat or cold aren't good for batteries.. excessive heat can indicate a potentially dangerous situation for Li Ion batteries as they can rupture or explode in some cases. You may want to take your iPad to an Apple Store and let them check it out.

My iPad Air 4 is wifi only. When I am actually using my iPad for work (which is most of the time the iPad is being used), wifi and bluetooth are OFF so only the screen is on and nothing else is running in the background (all apps are closed except for the single app that is open and being used by me)... yet the battery still drains.

How many of you others with the same battery drain problem have contacted Apple support to report your battery problems?

I contacted support with this problem, exact same thing happened as another user described earlier: support-agent ran online diagnostics showing battery is fine, then advised me to turn down screen brightness and sent me links to support articles on how to extend battery life. Ironically one of the articles he advised me to check was referring to the low power feature which exist only on iphone only 😳. Would have hoped for a little more commitment from support after paying 89€ for the AppleCare+ plan. Thinking I will take the device back to the store (apple premium reseller) when I have time but don’t really expect any different procedure there. Fingers crossed next iPadOS update will address this problem.

Many of you are experiencing heat in lower right corner in portrait orientation(?). I have this too, but nothing really compared to what my iphone 8 does when e.g. watching a video or using internet sharing to my laptop. I really dont think it’s the battery that heats up the ipad. Try Googling “internal layout of ipad” and you will see most of the ipad is filled with the battery. If battery would heat up the whole device would warm up, not just that corner. On the cellular model at least the SIM tray is located in lower right corner.

ipad air 4th gen, 64gb, wifi+cellular. drains 3-5%/24hrs on standby, hard to estimate drainage when used but clearly faster than my sons 8th gen standard ipad bought in september 2020 and nowhere near the promised 10 hours of web browsing.